Barry Hers continues to champion New York City’s housing programs

New York City property professional Barry Hersko reveals more about his support for the city’s predominantly health and family-focused housing programs.

From HASA housing initiatives to the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, Brooklyn’s Barry Hers has supported a number of vital housing programs in New York City during his decades-long career as a real estate professional and property investor. Spending tens of millions of dollars on renovations and the ongoing maintenance of buildings dedicated to such programs, the New York City native continues to champion the hard work of many of the city’s health, family, and homelessness-focused charities and organizations.

“Originally established as the HIV/AIDS Services Administration, I’ve thus far provided more than two decades of support to HASA’s vital housing programs in New York City,” reveals Hersko.

Providing what the organization calls ‘safe, clean accommodation’ for those suffering from AIDS and HIV-related illnesses, HASA’s housing programs are largely supported by property investors, landlords, and real estate professionals such as Barry Hers and his colleagues.

Revealing more about his support for HASA, Hersko continues, “I first became involved with the organization shortly after its inception, established at the height of New York City’s HIV and AIDS crisis during the 1980s and early 1990s.”

Further to its vital housing programs, HASA’s initiatives have grown to include assistance in helping to apply for services such as Medicaid, transportation and cash assistance, mental health and substance abuse screening, treatment referrals, and employment and vocational services. “Among HASA’s primary focuses, however, are its programs tailored toward providing safe housing for those suffering from AIDS and HIV-related illnesses,” adds Hers, whose properties throughout New York City include 60 Clarkson Avenue and a nearby address on Flatbush Avenue, both in Brooklyn, among many others across the city’s five boroughs.

One of the first landlords in New York City to embrace HASA’s housing programs, Hersko has also spent many years involved with other homelessness and housing-focused initiatives, including the Emergency Rental Assistance Program. “The program,” he explains, “was first initiated, and then further supported, by New York City mayors Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg.”

Since the Emergency Rental Assistance Program was first established, properties such as Hers’ building at 60 Clarkson Avenue have been utilized by the city as a form of rent assisted shelter for less fortunate families and individuals, kindly supported by landlords such as Hersko and his associates. “As a family man,” he adds, “I’ve simply never been able to handle the thought of other families being homeless here in Brooklyn and throughout New York City.”

Hers estimates that, since the early 1990s, he’s housed hundreds of families and thousands of people in need of help, either financially or as a result of serious illness, including AIDS and HIV-related conditions.

“I’m immensely proud,” Barry Hers adds, wrapping up, “to have been able to assist those who are sick or otherwise in need of housing assistance in New York City via initiatives such as the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, and those run by the wonderful people at HASA.”